View full sizeDr. Karen Gunson, Oregon state medical examiner, helped produce a new DVD, "Native Remains and the Law," in hopes that people will learn the proper steps to take when bones or other burial remains are found.Brent Wojahn/The Oregonian

Capt. Walt Markee of the Oregon State Police still thinks about Jack Lee Harelson, a Grants Pass insurance agent turned grave robber. Harelson plundered more than 2,000 artifacts from Native American grave sites in Oregon and Nevada and later tried to have a former business partner killed.

Harelson's case, which made headlines earlier in the decade, has faded from memory for most. But Markee clearly remembers how investigators recovered the headless bodies of two Paiute children, swaddled in plastic garbage bags.

Oregon law

Several state statutes protect Native American artifacts, remains and cultural sites:

ORS 97.740, Indian Graves and Protected Objects: Harming, disturbing or possessing remains or sacred objects is prohibited. Public displays and sales of these items also are prohibited. Discovered remains must be reported to the Oregon State Police, the State Historic Preservation Office and the state Commission on Indian Services.

ORS 358.905, Archaeological Objects and Sites: Archaeological sites are declared irreplaceable parts of Oregon's cultural heritage. Any sites on public land must be protected as a public trust. No one may remove items without a permit from the state Parks and Recreation Department, and no items may be offered for sale, trade, barter or exchange.

ORS 390.235, State Parks and Recreation Department: A permit, reviewed by the state Historic Preservation Office, is required to excavate archaeological or historical sites. Items legally excavated cannot be exhibited without consulting the state Historic Preservation Office, the Oregon State Museum of Anthropology and the appropriate tribes.

Harelson, 69, is serving a 10-year term in the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton for his murder-for-hire scheme and was fined $2.5 million by a federal judge for destroying archaeological resources.

"But the thing that struck me is I'm sure Harelson thought he was a good amateur archaeologist," said Markee, who oversees OSP fish and game enforcement. "I think in his mind, he thought he was doing good. And there are a lot of people out there who think that way."

"How would you feel if I went into your cemetery, dug up your grandfather and took the artifacts out?" said Armand Minthorn, spiritual leader of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. "How would you feel?"

In hopes of preventing further desecration, the state medical examiner's office has teamed up with the tribes, state police and the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office to produce an educational DVD that is being distributed to police, prosecutors, county medical examiners and search-and-rescue teams that encounter remains.

Titled "Native Remains and the Law," the DVD explains Oregon law, lays out uniform procedures when remains are uncovered and explains Native Americans' concerns about their ancestors' resting places.

The DVD reinforces that police must determine whether they have found a homicide victim, remains of an accidental death or someone who has gone missing, as opposed to a pioneer grave or Native American remains. But if local authorities even suspect they have found Native American remains, they are legally required to call Oregon State Police, who will alert the medical examiner; the state Historic Preservation Office; and the state Commission on Indian Services, which will contact the appropriate tribes.

"The state of Oregon not only protects Indian artifacts on public land but on private land, too," said Dr. Karen Gunson, state medical examiner. "That's important for people to know."

In the bad old days, Gunson said, remains were quickly dug up and shipped to the medical examiner's office for investigation.

"We don't want that -- and the tribes don't want that," Gunson said. "It's better to leave the remains where they are until everyone can determine what should be done. And in any case, excessive photos should not be taken, displayed or released to the media. This would be disrespectful to the tribes."

Nici Vance, a state forensic scientist, often is called to investigate the nature of the remains that have been uncovered. She said she looks for clues such as shell casings, buttons or jewelry that may indicate a death was relatively recent. After that, she looks for indicators such as arrowheads or other flint points, stone tools or items made of shell or bone.

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State forensic scientist Nici Vance shows off a deer tibia, which often is confused with a human bone. Vance says the fused growth plates on the ends of the bone would be an obvious sign to a trained observer.Brent Wojahn/The Oregonian

"These items are often called grave goods," said Vance, who has a doctorate in anatomy. "These are the kinds of treasured items that were buried with loved ones." Vance also said she also can judge by dental wear. Native Americans, who ground maize with stone tools, regularly ate food containing tiny bits of grit that wore down their molars.

"That kind of wear indicates right away that we are looking at Native American remains and that the appropriate steps must be taken."

Depending on the location and the situation, those steps may include reburial by the appropriate tribe. Returning to the earth is important to the tribes.

"When I die, my body goes back to the ground," said Minthorn. "I'm fulfilling a promise, but also the land is fulfilling its promise by taking care of my body and my heart and my bones. My body is to remain in that ground until the world ends. If my bones are removed from that ground before the end of time, there is a violation."

OSP Lt. Steve Lane urged police to simply slow down and look at all the evidence when remains are uncovered.

"Don't automatically assume you have a homicide," Lane said. "Native remains can be found anywhere in Oregon. They're uncovered by construction projects or even by plowing fields, and you have to show the proper respect for the law and the tribes."

Eirik Thorsgard, cultural protection specialist for Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, said it's hard to overemphasize the tribes' concerns about treatment of remains.

"They're a direct connection to our past," Thorsgard said. "Without them and the history they have, we don't have a future. There's a strong feeling in the tribe that without a history you don't have a future, so it's real important to protect things that represent our past."